


Date Night

by BlondieSheep



Category: Animorphs (TV), Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Ax Can't Human, Cutesy, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:46:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25670785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlondieSheep/pseuds/BlondieSheep
Summary: A look into the romantic lives of the Animorphs, because even their dates are just a little strange.
Relationships: Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill/Melissa Chapman, Jake Berenson/Cassie (Animorphs), Rachel (Animorphs)/Tobias (Animorphs)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31
Collections: Animorphs Mini Bang 2020





	1. Boardwalk Date (Jake/Cassie)

It had been a chaotic day for Cassie.

For once, it had nothing to do with the invisible invasion of mind-controlling alien slugs from outer space. Nope, nothing Animorphs related; just something much more normal. Or at least, her own brand of non-guerrilla warfare normal.

Both of her parents were at an animal conservation convention for the weekend (her mother running a panel on new breeding practices for endangered species and her father participating in a fundraiser for non-profit rehabilitation centers). It was rare they were both able to attend the same out-of-town event; normally it was just one of them, usually bringing Cassie as a plus one for the learning experience. But with both of them gone, that left their daughter in charge of the house and a barn full of animals.

Being home alone wasn’t new to Cassie; her parents knew she was responsible and hadn’t feared leaving her on her own. However, a new housing development on the edge of town had pushed local wildlife out of their homes and into contact with humans. So the rehabilitation barn was full to the point of bursting with creatures suffering from run-ins with cars, electrical wires, defensive dogs and curious cats, and more.

Cassie had woken up with the sunrise to start a long to-do list of feeding, changing bandages and bedding, and forcing medicines into her reluctant patients. She’d wanted to get an early start so her afternoon would be free. Of course, the animals of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic had other plans.

First a deer, who’d tried to jump a wire fence and gotten tangled instead, had somehow unwrapped her bandages in the night and tripped herself up in the loose fabric. Cassie found the doe on her side, panting hard and legs crossed at awkward angles. It took some time to safely cut away the bandages and steady the poor deer back on her own legs. She thankfully didn’t hurt herself further and Cassie rewrapped her bandages with extra clips to prevent a repeat situation.

Then a peregrine falcon with a healing wing made a bid for freedom when she opened his cage and got wedged in a narrow gap between other bird of prey cages. All the nearby birds set up a screaming chorus until Cassie managed to extract the falcon from his tight spot. She wrestled him back into his cage, receiving some scratches for her trouble where his claws found bare skin beyond the end of her gloves.

With all of the clinic residents seeming to unite against the teenager and complicate her day, Cassie soon lost track of time and became immersed in her tasks. She paused only long enough to gobble down a couple power bars her father kept in a cabinet just for these busy days, and dove back into the mass of fur and feathers.

The day rushed by and all other plans went out of Cassie’s head until she closed a cage door on a raccoon that was furious with the disinfecting cream she’d just applied to the wound. She breathed a sigh and started turning towards the next cage when a voice behind her spoke, “Hey, Cassie.”

Despite the soft volume and gentle tone, the girl in question still jumped and grabbed at her chest, her heart racing under her fingers. “Jake! Can’t you knock next time?”

“I did. Several times on the barn door. But you were really focused on that raccoon so…”

“No, I’m sorry, Jake. I-“ Then Cassie realized why he was there and the reason she’d been trying to get everything done that morning. “Oh no, Jake, I’m so sorry! The day got away from me with all my chores and I’ve barely eaten and-“

“Easy, Cassie.” Jake laid a steadying hand on her shoulder, the weight and warmth momentarily grounding her thoughts. “It’s not a big deal. If you’re swamped, we can wait for another time.”

“Actually, everyone here has been fed, and I was almost done with the last of the meds. Can you give me… maybe thirty minutes?”

“Sure. Cleaning supplies still in the first empty stall?”

“Jake, you don’t have to clean every time you come over…” But he was already walking towards the horse stalls. Cassie certainly never expected Jake to help when he came around the barn but he always pitched in without complaint. They didn’t talk, Jake knowing she needed to concentrate as she finished with medications, but the repetitive sound of his sweeping down the aisles was a familiar companion.

As promised, thirty minutes later, every patient in the barn had been checked over, watered, and fed. And the barn floor was practically spotless, thanks to Jake’s assistance. He dumped his swept up piles into the trash bin while Cassie ran to her house to clean up.

As she hurried to wash her face and throw a few items into her backpack, Cassie kept telling herself this wasn’t a date. Sure, they were going out just the two of them, but that was only because Rachel was out of town visiting her dad and Marco was buried in school work. That neither she nor Jake had suggested inviting Tobias or Ax along was not a big deal, since neither of them could stay in their human morphs all afternoon.

Really, truly, this was not a date.

Cleaned up to her own satisfaction (though Rachel certainly would have thrown a fit at her definition of ‘cleaned up’), Cassie met Jake on the path between the barn and the house. Together, they walked to the nearby bus stop and took the bus down to the beachfront. Cassie wanted to apologize for how she must smell in the enclosed space but she just hoped it would blend in with the typical bus smell. Half an hour later, they arrived at the boardwalk stop.

Usually filled the brim with locals and tourists, it was pretty sparse this time of year. Spring had only just arrived, with frequent cold fronts still requiring jackets. There were a few people browsing through shops, kids enjoying the boardwalk arcades, and a couple joggers running by, but nothing like the crowds that would come with the warmer weather.

Cassie and Jake started down the boardwalk. Other than a quick stop for something to eat (a slice of mushroom pizza for Cassie and a hot dog with everything for Jake), they didn’t stop in any of the stores or tourist attractions. They talked as they walked, about school, Cassie’s work at the barn, how Jake had bested Marco in various video games, upcoming movies they wanted to see (Jake was all about the action blockbusters while Cassie was excited about a nature documentary), and other normal things. It was nice to talk about anything other than the war. Not about potential Controllers, Yeerk Pool entrances to track, the Sharing’s newest recruitment scheme, or information from Chee spies.

For this one afternoon, they weren’t two soldiers in a fight for humanity’s freedom. They were just two teens enjoying each other’s company.

“Hey Cassie, I bet I could win that giant penguin for you.”

They had stopped in front of a basketball game, one in a row of carnival style games that were part of the tiny boardwalk amusement park. The rides weren’t running yet but the games all had an attendant standing in them, looking bored without the hoard of summer tourists to keep them busy. The basketball game had no players so the attendant chatted with their coworker in the water gun game next door.

“Doesn’t Marco claim all these games are rigged?” Cassie asked.

Jake grinned. “That’s because he sucks at them. He’d be better if he paid more attention to the games and less attention to the girls walking by. I can get this basketball game no problem.”

They stepped up to the counter, Jake pulling some cash out of his backpack. He waved it around for a moment to get the attention of the attendants. Looking annoyed to actually have to work the booth, the guy broke off the conversation with his friend. “Five dollars for three balls. Get even one ball in the hoop, you win a prize. Make all three baskets and win the biggest prize.”

Jake counted out five one dollar bills and accepted his three basketballs in return. He took a step back from the counter with the first ball in hand, dribbling it against the boardwalk. Cassie couldn’t help but look nervously at the tall baskets set far back in the stand. She certainly didn’t want Jake to waste all his money on a silly game. However she smiled and did her best to project confidence when he glanced over his shoulder at her. “You can do it.”

The ball bounced off the backboard and dropped into the basket. Cassie excitedly clapped her hands together, now actually hopefully that Jake would come out on top of this game. “Good shot, Jake!”

He picked up the second ball, again dribbling it on the boardwalk but adding in a bounce between his legs. Cassie ignored the rolling eyes of the attendant to watch Jake throw the ball and score his second basket. “Go Jake! Go three for three!”

Encouraged by her cheers, Jake quickly grabbed the last ball without pausing for a dribble and sent it flying, with an actual jump off the boardwalk for extra height. But that jump propelled the ball high off the backboard and it bounced back at Jake without making a third basket. He caught the ball and Cassie saw his shoulders deflate.

“Two balls in so you can pick any prize off the middle shelf,” the attendant said as he snatched the ball from Jake’s hands.

Jake looked forlornly up at the giant penguin sitting on the top shelf without a word, so Cassie quickly stepped up beside him, with her finger extended towards one particular prize. “Can we have the stuffed tiger, please?”

The attendant unclipped the stuffed toy and handed it over to Cassie. The bright orange tiger had giant cartoonish eyes, floppy legs, and a limp body that seemed only half stuffed. It was nothing like the massive and powerful creature that was Jake’s battle morph, the feline that charged headfirst at Hork-Bajir, Taxxons and even Visser Three without fear. But Cassie hugged the little toy to her and grinned at Jake. “I like the tiger better anyway,” she said shyly. “Thanks, Jake.”

With red on his cheeks, that was most definitely not sunburn on this cloudy day, Jake mumbled that he was happy she liked it. Their walk down the boardwalk continued with the game attendant making a gagging face behind their backs, earning a laugh from his coworker.

At the end of the boardwalk, the pair finally walked down the stairs and along the beach. They left behind the last lifeguard stand and a sign stating ‘No Swimming Beyond This Point’. Cautious eyes looked around at tall sand dunes and swaying beach reeds to make sure they were alone. When Jake was finally satisfied that they’d gone far enough away from any stray walkers, he shrugged off his backpack near a clump of grass.

Cassie’s bag joined his in the sand and they started to shed their regular clothing down to their skin-tight morphing outfits. They shoved their clothes, and Cassie’s new plush friend, into their bags and placed them deep among the plants, out of sight from any beach walker who might wander by.

“Ready for a swim?” Jake asked, trying not to shiver in the wind.

“If you’re fine to break your own ‘no morphing for personal reasons’ rule,” Cassie replied.

“Just don’t let Marco find out, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

They waded out from the beach shore. The water was definitely too cold for swimming but the temperature wouldn’t be a bother once they morphed. Jake kept glancing back towards the beach, ever vigilant and responsible even when not on a mission, but this far down past the end of the boardwalk, there was no one around.

Once they reached the point where they were swimming more than they were walking, they started the dolphin morph.

Ax had once tried to explain her morphing talent to her, being an _estreen_ , but the Andalite science went way over her head and Cassie just accepted that she had better control at the actual morphing process than her friends. While Jake’s arms were quickly shrinking into flippers, making treading water difficult, Cassie was able to focus her morph on her legs. She smiled as her legs melted together into a tail, feeling like a mermaid right out of fairy tale.

After a brief moment of living the dream of most little girls, her body shifted in a way that was more horror movie than children’s fantasy. Her bones, muscles, and internal organs moved from their positions in a two-legged, up-right land mammal to orientations more befitting her new aquatic body.

When she felt the morph finish, Cassie simply angled her body upwards to allow her blowhole above the water for a breath of fresh air, since her short-lived mermaid tail had been able to keep her growing body close to the surface. Jake’s uncontrolled morph had pulled him down below the water. However, before Cassie could worry, a shape shot up from the dark right past her and burst into the sky in a spectacular jump.

All of Cassie’s human thoughts quickly disappeared under the dolphin mind who translated the jump to just one message: time to play!

The next hour was spent in a wonderful haze of swimming and leaping through the water with Jake. The brief exchanges of thought-speak between them were boasts and challenges that led from one game to the next. They raced each other, tried to jump higher and further than their companion, and performed elaborate twists and turns in the air.

The dolphin was one of Cassie’s favorite morphs. Even when they were on a life-or-death mission, she was always glad to engulf herself in the dolphin’s joy. Playing through the waves with Jake, without fear that the reality of an underwater lab or aquatic alien would suddenly appear in front of them, it was perfect even on this cold and gray day.

<Look at this.> Jake had broken off from their current race and was nosing at something floating on the surface. Turning back with a burst of echolocation, Cassie could see the outline of a small hat.

<Probably blew away from some kid on the boardwalk,> she said.

<Their loss!> Jake scooped up the hat in his snout and threw it as best as he could over the waves. <Catch it, Cassie!>

She was already powering her tail, focused on the shape her echolocation could pick up. Cassie grabbed the hat in her teeth and twisted in the water to toss it back towards Jake.

This was a great game, one that Cassie probably could have played forever, but after a few rounds of catch, she wrenched away from the dolphin mind to focus on her human sensibilities. <Jake, we should head back now.>

Jake looked at her in the water, his permanent dolphin grin even more comical with the hat he held in his mouth. <Has it been that long already?>

<Well, we don’t have Ax to track the time and we still have to swim back. Better safe than sorry.>

His snout opened to let the small baseball cap float free. <Goodbye, hat, you will be missed.>

They swam in the direction of the shoreline, only slightly subdued because the dolphin mind was still bubbling at the thought of another race. They sped through the water until the seafloor started sloping up towards the beach. Demorphing far enough from the shore that their bodies were mostly hidden by the water, Cassie and Jake were still relieved when they popped their human heads above the surface and saw no one was around.

They stumbled from the water, still giggling from the infectious dolphin joy that was lingering in their now human bodies. Shivering from the wind, they hurried over to their backpacks and pulled out towels, wrapping up to dry their wet skin. Cassie sat down to catch her breath, and Jake joined her in the sand.

“Sometime I forget how fun morphing is,” Cassie said.

“We’re usually in a fight for our lives when morphed so, yeah, easy to forget.”

“If we don’t want to get wet, maybe we should do dogs one day. You’ve always said Homer’s mind is all squirrels, tennis balls, and bellyrubs.”

“As long as they have a full stomach, dogs are nearly as unfailingly cheery as a dolphin,” said Jake. “Yep, dogs would definitely be fun.”

“Then it’s a date.”

The words flew out of Cassie’s mouth before she could stop them. She wanted to dig a hole in the sand and let the tide cover it because she had sworn this wasn’t a date, it was just two friends hanging out, right?

But Jake leaned a little closer, his body heat warming her better than the towel. “It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Animorphs Mini-Bang 2020, this has been so much fun! Definitely a welcomed distraction during quarantine, to revisit my favorite book series from my childhood.
> 
> This chapter pairs with the beautiful artwork done by the incredible [Sarifel-Corrisafid-Ilxhel](https://sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel.tumblr.com/post/625320114610470913/hello-i-was-one-of-the-artists-for-the-2020). Thank you for the awesome piece of Jake trying so hard to impress Cassie!
> 
> Check out the collections tag or the Animorphs Mini-Bang Tumblr page to see all the wonderful artworks and fanfics. We all had a blast with this mini-bang and we hope fellow Animorphs fans like it too!


	2. Dinner And A Movie Date (Rachel/Tobias)

Flying over a busy street, Tobias’ hawk vision caught the movement of a man checking his watch, angled in just the right direction that he could read it too. 5:28PM. He was right on time. Gripping the little brown bag tighter in his claws, he angled his wings to descend closer to the ground.

He spotted Rachel walking in the direction of their meeting spot. She was weaving around slower walkers on the sidewalk. For once, she wasn’t carrying a shopping bag of new clothes and make-up, only her gymnastics duffle bag.

<Hey, Rachel, what a crazy random coincidence to see you here.>

She raised her hand to brush her hair over her shoulder, a dramatic gesture that she finished with a wiggle of her fingertips, the closest she could get to waving at a hawk flying overhead without looking too out of the ordinary.

Tobias spiraled in a slow lazy circle while Rachel continued to walk down the street. He didn’t say anything else to her; a one-way conversation wasn’t worth the hassle.

When Rachel reached their meeting spot, she ducked into the one-way alley, returning a few minutes later without the duffle bag. She leaned against the brick wall of a bookstore, like she was waiting for someone. Which she was, just not someone who would be meeting her on the street like any normal human.

Tobias tightened his spiral over the alleyway and started to descend. The hawk mind was very unhappy to get so close to the cramped city buildings and the stench of the dumpster but long practice helped the human mind keep control.

Dropping the brown wallet just before he touched down, Tobias landed with his claws scrapping against the cement. He looked around but the alley only had back doors for the bookstore (those employees preferred to take their breaks on the street rather than near the smelly dumpsters) and a craft store that was closed after a recent robbery. He was alone and safe to morph.

Careful to keep his eyes away from his melting feathers, the familiar hawk figure soon gave way to his increasingly unfamiliar human form. The body he’d been born into was now nearly as strange as any new morph he acquired. Still, odd as it felt, Tobias was grateful to have the chance to be human again, even for only two hours at a time. Suddenly worried that the nosy Ellimist would take any stray thought about him as an invitation pop in and ‘not interfere’ again, he squashed that line of thinking and focused on finishing the morph. Soon, he was human once again, crouching bare-foot in the dirty alleyway.

Tobias stood, wobbling slightly from the change in his center of gravity. In these first moments of reacquainting himself with his human form, he could see why Ax was amazed by the mechanics of humanity’s two-legged walk.

Once he was sure he wouldn’t fall over, he walked over to Rachel’s duffle bag that she’d left by the dumpster. He opened it, almost dreading what Rachel had brought him to wear. Though he’d set the parameters that he wanted a slight step up from the mix-and-match collection of t-shirts and jeans he shared with Ax whenever they needed to be human, he could only hope she wouldn’t go overboard. A very small hope that nearly flickered out when he saw the glee in Rachel’s eyes at having free reign of his clothing.

Shifting through the outfit in the bag, it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. Tobias donned the button-down shirt, khaki pants, and dress shoes. He shoved Rachel’s duffle bag under the dumpster so they wouldn’t have to carry it with them, and retrieved the wallet from where his claws had dropped it. Satisfied that he was ready, Tobias went to join Rachel on the sidewalk.

Picking up a girl in front of an empty alleyway was certainly not how Tobias had pictured his first date to start off. Okay, he honestly didn’t daydream a lot about dating when he was human because who wanted to get involved with the loner who was constantly jumped between two different states every six months?

Rachel turned as his footsteps got closer, her eyes looking over his outfit. “So glad you know how to dress yourself, unlike some of our other friends.”

Tobias smiled. Or at least did his best to smile. If he could at least dress himself better than an Andalite, Ax still had the jump on him for portraying facial features, at least through the eyes. But he knew Rachel would at least understand his strain as a smile. “Thanks for the clothes.”

“No, thank you! Usually the only model I get to dress up is Cassie, and you know what a drag that can be. Shopping for you was fun.”

“Shopping for anyone is fun for you. But come on, we should get going so we can make the reservation,”

Rachel looked at her watch. “I’ll track the time but we should be fine for dinner and back.” _Before two hours were up_ was left unspoken but they both knew the timetable.

“Then follow me,” Tobias said, heading towards the restaurant with Rachel at his side.

“You’re still not going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked.

“That would ruin the surprise.”

Rachel sighed dramatically. “Fine, whatever you say.”

Her arm suddenly looped through his, causing Tobias to nearly stumble in surprise. But it was nice. Warm and comforting. He didn’t usually touch his friends in human form (other than to hold Ax back from food) and his only physical contact in his hawk body was occasionally perching on their arms or shoulders. This was different but a very welcome different. It felt almost normal.

This whole idea had started from a recent stake-out of a local diner that the Sharing had lately been using for meetings. The mission ended up being pointless, because it really was a non-Yeerk motivated gathering, at least for right now. They’d alternated pairings to have dinner at the same time as the meeting for a few weeks: Cassie and Tobias the first week, Jake and Ax the second week, and Marco and Rachel the final week.

During their debrief in Cassie’s barn, when they decided this particular Sharing gathering wouldn’t lead to any useful Yeerk information, Marco had closed out the meeting saying the mission had been a rousing success because he’d finally taken Rachel on a date. After shoving him into a pile of hay, Rachel had commented that the family diner was cute but not nearly nice enough to be considered a date. She obviously hadn’t meant for the words to hurt Tobias, only to tease Marco and his non-existent dating game. But as he flew back to his meadow that night, leaving his human friends to make their way to warm beds and his Andalite companion to gallop through the forest for his evening meal, the remark definitely sat with him.

He and Rachel never truly defined… well, themselves. Sure, Rachel was the one he spent the most amount of time with, other than Ax, his fellow forest dweller. But listening to music in her bedroom, racing on thermals, and occasional trips to fast food joints to satisfy his craving for French fries on human taste buds weren’t true dates. Maybe it was silly for Tobias want to do something as normal as taking a girl out to a nicer restaurant, when nothing else in their future could ever be truly normal. Maybe it was dumb he compared himself to Marco’s tall tales of romance.

However, the idea hooked into his head and he went with it. For weeks after, as he flew around town on his usual patrols for weirdness related to Yeerk activity, Tobias also searched the ground for dropped change. He didn’t object to his friends sharing their hard-earned allowances on shared snacks when they met at the mall but he certainly wasn’t going to ask them for help with this. The only assistance he did get was from Cassie. He brought her his growing collection of coins (it was amazing how much people dropped and didn’t even notice) and she exchanged it for dollar bills. Though he was a little guilty about asking for help, Cassie was only one he knew would help without pity or ridicule. She kept his cash in her room, counting it out every time he added more, until he finally decided he had enough for his plan.

The annoyance of carrying tiny coins in his claws for miles to Cassie’s house was worth it for the surprise on Rachel’s face when he asked her to go to dinner. He assured her that he had all the logistics worked out; he only asked that she bring him some clothes. Her excited smile burned into his memory as she agreed to his crazy plan.

Now here they were, walking down the street with arms linked together as Tobias led Rachel to the restaurant. They passed the payphone where he had fumbled through dialing his first phone in ages to make the reservation, hurrying to and from the booth so no one would wonder why a boy was walking the streets bare-foot.

When they finally arrived, Tobias heard Rachel’s small excited gasp as he pulled her towards the door of Taste of Osteria. A newer restaurant with rave reviews, if the recent conversations he’d picked up while spying on a recent Sharing picnic were any proof, it was nice without breaking the bank of a bird with no income.

Wherever Rachel thought he was taking her, it certainly wasn’t here. She paused in the door to skim the menu, her eyes hitting more on the prices than the dishes.

“Tobias, are you sure about this? You know I’m happy just splitting a pizza.”

He looked at her, trying to put emotion into his face that was too used to frozen features of a hawk. He wanted her to enjoy this, not to worry about the details. “Trust me, Rachel.”

“You know I do,” she said, finally stepping fully into the restaurant.

Tobias gave the servers the fake name he had put on the reservation; while he was pretty certain his aunt and uncle had never bothered with filing a missing persons report, he figured better to play it safe. The servers led them to a table in a corner and left them with menus.

“What are you going to get?” Rachel asked.

“Well… they seem to be out of squirrel so I guess I’ll just have to settle for meatballs.” Tobias said softly.

She laughed and gently nudged his feet under the table. “So sorry they can’t cater to your exotic tastes.”

Truthfully, Tobias was having a hard time recognizing anything on the menu. His uncle had pretty much lived off fast food delivery and his aunt’s kitchen didn’t have anything more complicated than cereal and canned soups. Add to that his current hawk diet, most of the dish names and descriptions went over his head. So Tobias stuck with the simplest pasta they offered, a spaghetti dish with meatballs and mushrooms.

Rachel, ever the adventurous one, went with a penne pasta covered in all kinds of seafood, plus an appetizer for them to split.

“Should we really eat something we can’t even pronounce?” Tobias asked when the server came back with the appetizer.

“I can pronounce it just fine: carpaccio di manzo. So yes, eat it.”

After eyeing his forkful of beef, greens, and capers warily, Tobias finally swallowed it down. And it was actually pretty damn good. Rachel laughed as he quickly scooped up more and shoved it in his mouth. “Careful, you look like you’re channeling Ax.”

The rest of the dinner passed quickly but happily. The conversation was a bit one-sided since Tobias couldn’t talk much about his days as a hawk in a crowded restaurant but Rachel had plenty to share between school, gymnastics, and family drama. He felt a little odd sitting among such a large group of humans in an enclosed space; however, Rachel kept him grounded. When his fingers drummed a little too frantically against the table, she reached over and held his hand. Just like the walk over, arm in arm, the touch was foreign but most definitely not unwelcomed.

The food was excellent, certainly better than anything a boy who ate all his food raw had enjoyed in a while. With some coaxing from Rachel, he tried a few bites of her seafood, which he liked but much preferred his own dish.

They couldn’t stay for dessert with Tobias’ morph clock counting down, so Tobias paid the bill, without Rachel objecting thankfully, and they started the walk back to the alley where they’d met up.

“That was delicious! Where did you hear about this place?” asked Rachel.

“Came highly recommended from The Sharing.”

She laughed, reading between the lines of his response. “Well, for all their faults, at least _they_ have a good taste in food.”

They arrived at their original meeting point with 35 minutes left for Tobias’ morph. A quick glance around showed the alley was still as empty as before. Tobias pulled Rachel’s duffle bag from its hiding spot beneath the dumpster and they both shed their outer layers of clothing until they were only in their morphing outfits. Looking away from each other, the pair transitioned from human to bird. Tobias’ morphing clock was closed but Rachel’s had just begun. Thankfully, they didn’t have far to fly from this point.

Fluffing his feathers as the last bits of human faded away, Tobias turned back to Rachel, who towered over him as a bald eagle. His hawk mind was even more upset by the eagle’s presence than being on the ground in the middle of a human city but he ignored it. <You ready?>

<Yep, lead the way,> Rachel answered.

Getting lift from the ground was much harder than taking off from a tree or other raised perch, and the tall buildings blocking the air currents didn’t help. Muscles straining, Tobias flapped as hard as he could to reach the sky above. Below him, Rachel’s massive wings struggled in the dead air.

Finally, he pulled up even with the bookstore’s roof and a current caught under his wings. Ceasing his frantic flapping, Tobias allowed the wind to carry him high above the buildings and streets. A few moments later, Rachel soared up to his level. She angled her wings to put some distance between them, still staying in thought-speak range but not looking as obvious that they were flying together.

<So you said dinner was part one. What’s part two? Or is that also a secret?> Rachel asked.

<Since you’ve been so patient,> Tobias said. <We’re heading to the drive-in movie.>

<Dinner and a movie? You really did plan everything out.>

<So a better date than Marco, then?>

That comment earned him a loud laugh in his head. <Oh definitely! You know he spent the whole stake-out just trying out his crappy pick-up lines on me? I was praying some Hork-Bajir would storm out from the kitchen so I’d have an excuse to maul someone and end my torture.>

<Does he really think those work?> said Tobias.

<Sadly, yeah, I think he does. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Marco you have better game than him. It would just break his little heart.>

Grateful his hawk body couldn’t blush, Tobias just pushed on with the short flight to the outdoor theater.

It was easy to spot from above, a huge tree-less field surrounded by roads. Cars lined up in rows and people walked between them carrying snacks back to their vehicles. The giant screen was already showing trailers for upcoming films. A fence surrounded the area to stop people from just walking in, but it did nothing for the morphed pair flying overhead. Tobias landed on a low-hanging branch while Rachel came to rest on the ground and demorphed. Over her shifting body, Tobias looked around but everyone seemed to be staying by their cars and the snack stand.

When she was human again, Rachel sat with her back against a tree while Tobias remained on his branch. This movie was over two hours, even without the trailers, and he didn’t want to morph to human and have to go back to bird in the middle of it. Seeing a film seemed an obvious date activity but they all ran close enough to two hours to make Tobias uncomfortable. 

“What are we seeing?”

<Uh, I forget the name but it’s a sequel,> Tobias said. <Scientists brought dinosaurs back to life and put them in a theme park; the dinos broke out and ate people.>

“Oh yeah, I remember that one. How can they make a sequel? Are they trying to put the dinosaurs back in their cages?”

<Guess we’ll have to watch and find out.>

Rachel turned her head up. “You going to watch from way up or get your tail down here and join me?” she asked.

<Oh, yeah, of course.> Tobias hadn’t actually thought about it because who would want to cuddle with a hawk while watching a movie? But he dropped off his branch and landed on Rachel’s shoulder, being as gentle as he could with his claws.

His pessimistic side wanted to be annoyed that the normal date he’d planned had gone off-track thanks to movie logistics but Rachel leaned her head against his side, and that piece of Tobias quieted down. He could allow himself to be happy in this moment. He’d taken a girl out to dinner and a movie, and at no point in the night had she thrown a drink in his face and stormed off.

Considering that was how most of Marco’s dates ended, no matter how cool he tried to play it off, that was a win in Tobias’ book.

Maybe this bird did have better game than Marco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter up, whoot! Seriously adored Rachel and Tobias as a kid and I still love them now. Hope I did them justice. One last chapter to go, will be a bit late from the end of the Mini-Bang; writing Ax trying his best at being human is fun but difficult. Hope to have it up sooner rather than later. 
> 
> Check out the collections tag or the Animorphs Mini-Bang Tumblr page to see all the wonderful artworks and fanfics. This mini-bang was so much fun to revisit my favorite idiot teenagers with a death wish.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


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